New York Islanders rout Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 for second straight victory -NHL Update
The New York Islanders had a game plan in their mind entering their matchup with the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning team and executed with ease to win their second straight contest, 5-1, on Tuesday night, December 6, 2011, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial
Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, United States.
Getting another major loss handed down to them, the Lightning are now 1-5 in the last six-games and stand at number 13 due to their struggling performance ever since the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season kicked off.
New York’s leading rookie, John Tavares, also got some piece of the action by scoring his first goal in nearly a month, with the last being back in early November, but picking up a number of assists on the way.
"It's great getting chances, but it's about time I started capitalizing on them more frequently," said Tavares, whose goal kicked off a scoring spree. "It was nice to get that one early in the game – to finally see one go in. I've got to stick with it and
keep producing when I get my opportunities."
Martin St. Louis got the first of the night during the opening seven minutes of round-one for his ninth of the season.
Tavares answered back for the Islanders over the midway mark, followed by Matt Martin and Milan Jurcina to close of the period with his first of the season on their initial power play opportunity as Tampa Bay lost Nate Thompson due to a two minute penalty
for boarding.
"We were fine – up a goal, going good," St. Louis said. "Then we just collapsed. We got beaten after that. When things go bad for a succession of games, especially when you think you deserved a little better than some of the results, when something bad happens,
you have that feeling of ‘here we go again.'"
David Ullstrom and Matt Moulson added two more after a scoreless second period to close off the match in the final 20 minutes and give New York a commanding, 5-1, lead to secure the contest for them.
The Islanders still have a long way to go as they stand at one position below the Lightning with 23 points in the Eastern Conference.
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